This weekend is the Nantucket Wine Festival, which for me, marks the beginning of summer. Here are a few summery pictures to get everyone in the mood…

Nantucket corner

A CT vineyard

The future husband and our beach on Nantucket

Some of the magnum damage we do at wine festivals…

Nantucket flowers

Looking forward to the wine fest this year! Our good friends are coming with us and we rented a house about a mile from Nantucket town center. We’re going to enjoy the island on Saturday and enjoy some amazing wine and food on Sunday! The couple is my fiance’s best friend from high school, Ed, and his wife Terri, who incidentally is now one of my bridesmaids for my wedding next April! She has proven to be extremely helpful as a married opinion in the bridal party :)

Four-five 2o oz. bottles, plus coffee and shakes…probably >100 ounces per day. More if I work out.

3) What is your current favorite workout?

Nike Training Club app. Need I say more.

4) How many calories do you eat each day?

Will refrain from posting, I think this contributes to comparisons that shouldn’t be made between metabolisms/people/habits/lifestyles.

5) What are your favorite healthy snacks?

String cheese, hummus, greek yogurt, protein bars

6) What do you usually eat for lunch?

Usually another protein shake and some form of dairy- I’m really mindful of calcium and Vit D

7) What is your favorite body part to train?

Most recently, I love plank rows, so I suppose that’s back and arms combined. Plank rows are SO HARD, it’s wonderful. I do them in the cold, quiet basement of my gym and feel powerful.

8) What is your least favorite body part to train?

I am not a fan of triceps training because it always makes my elbows pop. I have corrected my form a thousand times and my elbows still pop. Suggestions on that are welcome.

9) What are you favorite bad food cravings?

Raw chocolate chip cookie dough and salty crispy french fries.

10) Do you take vitamins or supplements?

Yes, I take calcium and Vit D every day and when I remember, I take a women’s multi as well.

11) How often do you eat out?

Around 1-2 times per week, but I do make an effort to treat this as a normal occurrence and not order whatever I want.

12) Do you eat fast food?

Do birds fly?

13) Who is your biggest supporter?

My running shoes. Oh wait…ok, my fiance and my family.

14) Do you have a gym membership?

Yep, pretty addicted to the gym. It energizes me.

15) How many hours of sleep do you get each night?

7.5 (11pm-6:30 am)

16) Do you have a “cheat day”?

No…I’m kind of more of a everything in moderation person.

17) Do you drink alcohol?

Only on days that end in “y”. Just kidding. Kind of.

18) Do you have a workout buddy?

This is something that I find difficult to have because my workouts are zen time for me, so every time I’ve worked out with a friend I’ve ended up staying and working out by myself after to get the same feeling of zen.

I recently listened to a podcast about yoga and whether it is appropriate for Catholics to practice yoga. I hadn’t considered this as a point of discussion before. I have taken many a yoga class (not for some years time) but I never considered that this might be something controversial for Catholics. So when recently, I was listening to Catholic Stuff You Should Know (http://www.howstuffworks.com/) where they discussed that yoga may in fact be inappropriate for Catholics to practice. As Hindus consider yoga as a way to spirituality, Catholics practicing yoga are then at risk of becoming enmeshed in a religion which is not their own. Notably, the podcast noted the most concerning aspect of this as the idea that yoga constructs God as an “energy” and that yoga brings you closer to that energy, while Catholics believe in the Holy Trinity and God as a concrete being (hence the belief in transubstantiation).

I have mixed feelings about this. I don’t think that taking a yoga class is anti-Catholic as yoga has evolved as an exercise form in the US, but Catholics should be somewhat cognizant of the messages they are picking up. They suggested remaining silent during the chanting and separating oneself from the visualization of “energy” during practice.

I feel comfortable speaking about this topic because I am Catholic and my fiance is Hindu, and we were able to talk this out for quite some time. When we reached the point of the idea of God as an energy vs. God as a person, he admitted that those two were fundamentally opposed and it was certainly a thinking point.

This year I am not making resolutions. The word resolution smacks of commercial profit; Target puts “alli” and exercise clothing ads on their homepage, gyms email promotions daily, magazines scream “New Year, New You!” in whatever typeface will look as different as possible from last year’s identical headline. People resolve to exercise more, save more, do more, relax more…people want MORE. At least, the media is telling us to resolve for “more”, whatever that means, so every year, we do.

I want 2012 to be the year of less. Less shopping. Less talking. Less traveling. Less eating out. Less drinking. Less wishing, more (there’s that word again, can’t get away from it!) doing. 2012 will be the year of spiritual and intellectual fulfillment and resistance to vices. Since “more” can’t be avoided:

More reading of literature, less reading of blogs.

I will learn something new pertaining to my job (medicine) every day.

More churchgoing, less sleeping in.

I will find a job that is in line with my ethics, even if it means I have to work longer hours and work harder during those hours.

I will gain inspiration from leaders of our past rather than those tainted by the values of today.

I will return to my high school self; my inquisitive, well-read, Montaigne and Thomas Mann quoting materialism hating self.

My runs will last until my thoughts are organized, not until I have hit my desired mileage. Whichever comes first.

I will work hard to decrease the number of items I own ((and keep it that way). Read: we will not register for our wedding.

I will hike more and elliptical less.

The year of less will end up being the year of more; of this I am certain.

I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions but I do make sort of monthly personal challenges. I also find doing things exactly by the month isn’t quite me, so just starting the day I think of it usually works for me. So, as of 12/27/2011, I’d like to amp up my workouts. I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but let’s say that’s what I want to do.

I’d also like to amp up my career. I won’t write much more about that but it’s fairly obvious what that entails.